necessitate

verb

ne·​ces·​si·​tate ni-ˈse-sə-ˌtāt 

necessitated; necessitating

transitive verb

1

: to make necessary : require

Business was growing, which necessitated the hiring of additional employees.

2

: force, compel

was necessitated to choose some other route

necessitation

ni-ˌse-sə-ˈtā-shən 

noun

Synonyms

• require
• need

Examples of necessitate in a Sentence

New safety regulations necessitated adding a railing to the stairs.

getting new shoes would necessitate another trip to the mall

Recent Examples on the Web

The Dodgers’ recent play necessitated it. —Fabian Ardaya, New York Times, 6 Sep. 2025

Staying cool also necessitates moving blood to the skin surface to offload heat outside the body. —Lauren Leffer, Popular Science, 4 Sep. 2025

Reversing the tariffs would necessitate more borrowing to pay its bills. —Elisabeth Buchwald, CNN Money, 3 Sep. 2025

Ongoing losses could necessitate equity raises, diluting existing shareholders and weighing on per-share returns. —Trefis Team, Forbes.com, 2 Sep. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1625, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for necessitate

• abbreviate
• accelerate
• accommodate
• accumulate
• acuminate
• adjudicate
• adulterate
• affiliate
• agglomerate
• agglutinate
• alleviate
• amalgamate

Kids Definition

necessitate

verb

ne·​ces·​si·​tate ni-ˈses-ə-ˌtāt 

necessitated; necessitating

: to make necessary

sick enough to necessitate staying home

necessitation

-ˌses-ə-ˈtā-shən 

noun